


4:56 AM

by cupsofstardust



Category: Naruto
Genre: Anxiety, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:21:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25952860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cupsofstardust/pseuds/cupsofstardust
Summary: It's tough sometimes, for both of them. They manage.
Relationships: Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 6
Kudos: 44





	4:56 AM

**Author's Note:**

> Unfortunately for everybody I will keep doing whatever I want

It's another one of those nights. 

He can't sleep, no matter how badly he wants to, if only just to stop thinking for a while. 

He presses his blanket over his nose and just tries to breathe. His chest feels heavy, bad heavy, and if he focuses too hard on the breathing part he can almost feel his lungs, which... isn't helping. 

So instead, he focuses on the sound, and on keeping it steady. 

He feels like he has to cough, but he knows he doesn't. The tickle in his chest is just an unfortunate byproduct that makes everything else just a little bit worse. So he breathes through it.

The dog moves next to him and he suddenly remembers she's there, under the blankets. He lifts them up a little so he can see her.

"You wanna help me out, baby girl?" he asks, his voice muffled. 

The blanket is helping; his breathing is slower. His heartbeat isn't, though.

...One problem at a time.

She pauses in her ministrations to look at him blankly, which makes him laugh a little into the fabric of the blanket. It gets warm, and it feels nice.

"There's nothing in your head, huh."

She moves up to the head of the bed, right next to him, and curls up again.

She continues her work, and he continues his.

He remembers the video queued up on his laptop beside him, so he snakes a hand out of his cocoon and hits play, just for some background noise.

Something else to focus on.

The tickle in his chest is anxiety, he reminds himself, because he knows this, but sometimes it doesn't click. He starts another breath, pressing the blanket tighter to his nose. It tickles. The warmth is fading.

Under the voices from the video playing beside him and the humming of the fan, there's a knock on the door. It sounds like a reprieve.

"Are you up?" It's Sasuke.

It must be late. He checks the clock steadily ticking away on the wall—it's nearly five in the morning. What's Sasuke doing up? 

...Maybe that's hypocritical of him, all things considered.

"Yeah," he calls back, his voice still muffled. 

The door opens and he comes in, looking sleepy and messy, and he sits on the side of Naruto's bed and he pets the dog.

She's going wild, trying to wiggle herself inside out. She likes Sasuke. She has good taste.

"Hello," Sasuke says, a hand on her back. She's licking it. Trying her best to, anyway. Despite her best efforts, she still hasn't managed to get herself inside out.

"Hi. Why are you up?"

He shrugs, running his other hand through his hair. "Couldn't sleep. Blanket?"

Naruto shrugs too. "Can't breathe. Trying to."

He nods like he knows what that means, because he does. This is not his first rodeo.

"Do you want me to stay?" is his next question.

"Yes," he replies, and it feels a little desperate when he thinks it over and over even though he only says it once, with his blanket muffling his voice.

"Okay."

And Sasuke curls up beside him under the blankets and Naruto rolls over like he knows what to do because he does, and then Sasuke's arms are winding under his own and across his chest, not too tight but just tight enough because he knows, too.

The blanket falls away a little when Sasuke rests his head in the crook of his neck, and cool air hits the lower half of his face.

It feels nice. Sasuke is warm. 

"Are you going to fall asleep in here?" he asks. His voice isn't muffled.

"Is it okay if I do?"

Naruto nods.

"Then yes. I might. You're comfortable." He sounds tired now. Relaxed.

He smiles as the dog-shaped lump wiggles its way up the bed and pops out from under the blankets beside his face. She licks his nose. He pokes hers.

"Okay." 

He pauses the video and closes his eyes. He feels tired, too.

**Author's Note:**

> This installment of my mentally ill Naruto series is brought to you by last night <3 Sorry it's a little shorter, I couldn't figure out how to make it any longer while still retaining that post-anxiety feeling.
> 
> Also the dog in this is based on my dog, her name is the Bean and she is lovely and stupid <3
> 
> Comments and kudos are nice, thank you! 
> 
> [my twitter!](https://twitter.com/yujinchos)


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